Fresh off a split from NWA, Ice Cube headed to New York to make his first (and best) solo album with The Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production crew). East And West Coast MCs have made selected tracks together but no one had attempted a whole album like this. Tons of great funk samples by Steve Arrington, P-Funk, Kool & The Gang, Bar-Kays, James Brown, Bob James, Zapp -- and the "Long Red" and "Synthetic Substitution" breaks (before it all got played out). Unsung MVP was Eric Sandler of The Bomb Squad who never gets his due as a hip hop producer.
Jimmy Page will forever be known as the Creator of Led Zeppelin but his post-LZ projects of the 80s and 90s are ripe for a critical reassessment. There's a healthy quantity of music there: the Death Wish II soundtrack, an collaboration with Roy Harper, two albums from The Firm, the one Coverdale-Page recording, two Page and Plant albums, a live effort with The Black Crowes and of course his one true solo album -- 1988's Outrider.
It was released on label powerhouse Geffen Records with a major promotional push during the height of "hair metal." Pay no mind to the Motley Crues and Bon Jovis, the Guitar God was back and would reclaim his throne. The end result would be a very personal art project that left the public feeling a little cold. The three commercially-oriented singles would be the weakest tracks and stiff at radio.
David Fricke of Rolling Stone described it as "a whole lotta muddle, a bewildering amalgam of trademark Pagey rifferama, utter lyric banality, …
It was released on label powerhouse Geffen Records with a major promotional push during the height of "hair metal." Pay no mind to the Motley Crues and Bon Jovis, the Guitar God was back and would reclaim his throne. The end result would be a very personal art project that left the public feeling a little cold. The three commercially-oriented singles would be the weakest tracks and stiff at radio.
David Fricke of Rolling Stone described it as "a whole lotta muddle, a bewildering amalgam of trademark Pagey rifferama, utter lyric banality, …